Loving Discipline (1 Kings 1:5–6)

Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” He was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom.
—1 Kings 1:5–6

So here we have in 1 Kings 1:5–6 a picture of one of David’s sons rising up in an attempt to take over the kingdom. He’s exalting himself, making himself king.

And verse 6 tells us his father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” In other words, his father, King David, had never once disciplined his son, had never sat down and had a conversation with him in which he asked, “Why have you done this?”

1 Kings 1:5–6 pictures the danger of allowing foolishness to go unchecked.

I can think about a variety of conversations I’ve had with my children saying, “Why have you done this?” and helping them think through why they have not made a wise decision in that moment. I thank God for my dad and the number of conversations he had with me like that, because this is part of the responsibility God has given to parents. In an Ephesians 6:4 kind of way—“Fathers, don’t provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord”—to lovingly discipline them in a way that reflects Hebrews 12, God’s loving discipline in our lives.

God loves us so much, cares for us so much that he opens our eyes to see when we’ve done something foolish, when we’ve sinned, we’ve done something that will harm us or harm others. God turns us from it in the same way parents are intended to be a reflection of God’s love and care. And King David had not done this with Adonijah, and the result was an attempted coup and sin against God and the people of God. So can we just pray based on these verses for those of us who are parents and children to experience and give wise discipline, and to pray this for other parents and children around us?

1 Kings 1:5–6 reveals the need for godly discipline in the home.

God, we pray, based on 1 Kings 1:5–6, in this picture of an undisciplined, uncared-for child who rises up in sinful defiance of you, we pray that you would help us to be parents and children who give and receive good, helpful, loving discipline.

We pray that others’ homes around us, as we intercede for other parents and other children, help us all to raise children in the discipline and instruction of you, not in ways that provoke children to anger, but in ways that help children to see your love reflected in their parents. God, we praise you as our Father for your loving discipline in our lives. We say as your children, we need it.

We pray that you would help us to respond rightly to your discipline, to receive it, to receive your correction by your Spirit and your Word, to respond to conviction in our hearts that we might walk in obedience to you and live and thrive in relationship with you. And God, we pray for the discipline and instruction of the Lord to mark relationships between parents and children, all of us who are parents or children and other parents and children around us.

A Prayer for the Mongour People

And as we pray for this in our lives, our families, others’ families around us, God, we pray for this in families all around the world. We pray for the Mongour people in China, for this small minority people group. We pray that the good news of your love in Jesus makes a way for the Mongour to know you as Father.

God, we pray that the good news would spread to them, that they might become your children through faith in Jesus, and they might experience your good design for family and marriage and parenting. All is the overflow of your love for them, for us, as our Father.

Oh God, we pray all of this in the name of Jesus, the perfect Son who never sinned, who makes it possible for us to be your children. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.